Fishing
by PaBurke
Summary: Why is it that the one person in Eureka that Jack Carter relates to the most is the town’s biggest mystery?


Fishing

By PaBurke

Summary: Why is it that the one person in Eureka that Jack Carter relates to the most is the town's biggest mystery?

Fandoms: Eureka Season 1 episode 2, SG1 Season 8, Fragile Balance

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I made no money. This is all in fun.

Word Count: 850

"How did a sensible person like you end up sheriff of Geeksville?"

Jack Carter dropped the fishing pool and turned to face the sudden visitor. It was a kid –teen. He was tall, lanky, with light brown hair. He was also carrying a fishing pool and a tackle box. No books of any kind.

He had managed to sneak up on him in a way that only his 'Deputy' Jo Lupo had managed.

"How did you know I was the sheriff?" He was, after all, in civvies.

The kid rolled his eyes. "You're carrying, you have a cell phone and a radio. Who else would you be?"

"A paranoid husband of a genius?"

A shadow flitted across the boy's face that made Jack wonder. He held his hand out to the boy. "We should at least introduce ourselves properly. I'm Jack Carter."

The kid faked a smile. It was a really good fake, but it was still a fake. "Jack Hadden."

"What makes you think I'm sensible?"

Hadden grinned. "You're fishing for the sake of fishing, not trying to make it into an experiment."

"Someone's done that around here?"

Hadden nodded. "A bit. Those people can suck the fun right out of anything." He glanced around. "You know, if you are actually interested in Icatching/I fish, there's a spot a half-klick upstream."

Military brat. Jack glanced out at the still water. "Nah, I think I'll try out this spot first."

Hadden nodded, understanding more than anyone else in this town. "Well, then. Be seeing you."

"Nice to meet you, Jack."

"Ditto."

Jack 'fished' some and thought about Jack Hadden. By the time he had caught nothing and the sun was fading, Jack had some questions. He drove straight to the sheriff's office and saw Jo was manning the desk as always. "Jo, do you know of a Jack Hadden?"

Jo took on a wary look. "Everyone who lives here was fully vetted and invited. Remember?"

"So is he some sort of computer geek?" Hadden just didn't seem like the book type.

Jo shook her head. "He's not employed at Eureka. He does go to college here though. Just finished his Masters in Astronomy and Psychology."

Jack Hadden was maybe sixteen, but that wasn't much of a surprise when eleven year olds were in eleventh grade. "His parents?"

"Emancipated minor."

Now Jack was confused. "Then how did he get invited here if he's not working?"

"The President signed off on it."

"What does he Ido/I besides fish?" Jack had long since learned that everyone had at least two jobs in town.

"He signs off on the Section 5 budget and he test flies all experimental aircraft."

Jack shook his head. Surely he had misheard. "That kid? Controls the military weapons budget? For the United States research?"

Jo nodded. "He had been in town for six months before anybody knew. Just walked up to the gate and surprised everyone when he was in the system. They actually did call the President to confirm."

"Where did he come from? Who were his parents?"

"Nobody knows, or if they know, they aren't talking. It's as if he didn't exist before here. The government didn't even bother creating a false trail. There just is no trail."

"Section 5?" Most of the people that Jack had befriended didn't even have access to top-most section of Eureka.

Jo nodded. "Warren," she mentioned the previous director of Eureka, "was never sure how much of the science stuff Hadden understood, but once said that Hadden had the best BS meter in existence. Hadden shut down one project without warning and explanation and it took Warren two months to find out where the scientist had been making up numbers. He confronted Hadden in the middle of town about it, so everyone knows about it."

Jack shook his head. "One of the scientists tried to go fishing with him to brownnose?" he guessed.

Jo nodded once. "Hadden threw him off the dock and no one tried again."

"Anything else I should know about the kid?"

The deputy wavered for a moment.

"Spit it out, Jo."

"He has a remote for the armory."

Jack pointed to the place in the ceiling where the office armory was hidden. "Our armory?"

"Yes, sir. He passed the written test perfectly, the first time." Jo couldn't resist mentioning it.

"Who is he?" Jack was really wondering what Hadden was doing here.

*

Jack 'Hadden' opened his beer and flipped through the secondary autopsy reports. The time of death, the phone call from Beverly and the lack of empty pill capsules within or without of the body of the clone of Susan Perkins; all this added up to more than a suicide.

It added up to murder and it put Beverly Barlowe in Jack O'Neill's sights. Beverly was the connection to the conspiracy that this clone was sent to ferret out. Between Beverly's sloppiness and the phone history for the Perkins' household, Jack had several leads to follow.

It'd keep him busy for a little while.

He hoped. He was at least being useful.

Somewhere he could fish.

*


End file.
